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Turkmenistan Census supervisors and enumerators get trained on Census methodologies

Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, 28 August 2012 – The preparations to the National Census in Turkmenistan continued in August with capacity development training on Census methodologies for Census supervisors and enumerators. Organized by UNICEF, UNFPA and UNHCR the training aimed at enriching the knowledge and skills of enumerators and supervisors on Census techniques and procedures to comply with international standards. Census will take place in December 2012 and the data will be used to measure the progress towards achieving the national goals and Millennium Development Goals.

The training was led by Svetlana Novoselova, the international Census expert, who provided participants with practical advice on strengthening the quality of interviewing, questionnaires, and educational materials which will be used by around twenty three thousand Census enumerators and supervisors. During the training participants also discussed the results of the pilot Census interviews, and the expert gave substantial feedback and recommendations on what actions the State Statistics Committee needed to successfully implement the Census as per international standards.

“Turkmenistan is practically ready to complete the Census by this year. It has progressed with using modern technologies to enter and disseminate the data which is a significant step forward,” said Svetlana Novoselova. “Now the State Statistics Committee should strengthen Census participants’ skills in interviewing and data collection, as well as publish comprehensive educational materials for all twenty three thousand temporary enumerators and supervisors the majority of whom have never had experience in carrying out the Census,” she noted.

The capacity development training was conducted in the framework of the joint programme “Support in conducting the national census and further analysis and management of data for reporting on MDG’s and national programmes” for 2010-2015 signed by the Government of Turkmenistan and UN agencies, such as UNICEF, UNFPA and UNHCR.